Magazine-spindle adaptors for gramophone record changers



P. R. FUSSELL Jan. 7, 1969 MAGAZINE-SPINDLE ADAPTORS FOR GRAMOPHONE RECORD CHANGERS Filed Sept. 13, 1966 United States Patent 40,091/ 65 US. Cl. 274- Int. Cl. Gllb 17/08 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The plane slide of a large-hole centre-spindle adaptor which slides between the relatively offset top and bottom portions of the adaptor, drives a plane, somewhat narrower separator blade located above it through a lever movable about a vertical pivot which extends through a longitudinal slot of the slide and separator, the lever being driven by a pin projecting from the slide at one side beyond the lateral edge of the separator blade, and being coupled to the separator blade by a pin arranged at the other side of the plane containing the axes of the changer spindle and the lever pivot.

This invention relates to Gramophone record changers of the kind having a stationary magazine spindle projecting substantially vertically from the Gramophone turntable axis, the spindle having a lower guide portion and an upper magazine portion, each portion being adapted to fit into the centre bore of a standard record disc, and the spindle being equipped with retaining and ejector means by which a pile of record discs may be retained on the upper portion of the magazine spindle and released one by one to slide down the guide portion on to the turntable. The terms horizontal and vertical when used in this specification and the appended claims refer to the conditions prevailing when the parts referred to are mounted in a record-changer Gramophone so placed that its turntable axis is vertical. It is an object of the invention to provide a simple and effective adaptor which can be fitted on to a normal-diameter magazine spindle when it is intended to use the record changer for records having a centre hole of larger diameter, for example, the 'kind of records at present known as large-hole 45 rpm. records.

According to the invention the adaptor has a lower guide portion co-axial with the guide portion of the spindle, and an upper magazine portion which, at least at its lowermost point, approximately one record thickness above the end of the guide portion, is laterally ofiset from the guide portion so as to expose at the upper end of the guide portion a shelf adapted to retain the bottom record of a pile of records, and an ejector slide and a separator blade are slidably arranged between the guide portion and said offset part of the magazine portion, the separator blade being movable between a retracted position in which the blade permits free movement of the bottom record of a pile of records stored on the magazine portion to move down to the shelf and an operative position in which it projects from the circumference of said offset magazine portion, at the side remote from said shelf between such bottom record and the next-following record of such pile, and the slide being arranged closely underneath said blade and being movable in the same direction as said blade by the ejector mechanism of the magazine spindle from a retracted position wholly within the circumference of said offset magazine portion to a position in which it forces the record resting on the shelf 3,420,531 Patented Jan. 7, 1969 to become aligned with the guide portion of the adaptor, thus releasing that record to drop down the guide portion, while the separator blade is coupled with the ejector slide by a lever which is pivoted about a vertical axis fixed in the body of the adaptor, and which is coupled to the ejector slide at one side of the plane containing the spindle axis and the said pivot axis and coupled to the separator blade at the other side of that plane, so that movement of the slide to eject the bottom record from the magazine produces movement in the opposite direction of the separator blade causing the latter to penetrate between such bottom record and a next following record.

Conveniently the pivot pin extends through longitudinal slot in the ejector slide and in the separator blade.

One embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the adaptor, with the magazine portion indicated by its chain-dotted outline, and

FIGURE 2 is an elevation of the adaptor in section on line 2-2 of FIGURE 1.

Referring now to the drawings, the adaptor has a body comprising a main support forming a guide portion 1 of circulalr cross section and a top moulding 2 forming a magazine portion which at its bottom end has a similar circular cross-section. The top moulding 2 is located on the support 1 in laterally offset relation by two hollow bosses 3 of the support which engage socket bores of the top moulding, and is secured to it by screws, not shown, passing through the bore of each boss 3. A top portion 24 of the support, slightly greater in height than the thickness of the thickest record discs to be used, is however confined in its cross-sectional outline to the cross-sectional outline of the adjacent end of the top moulding 2 to form at one side of the support a ledge 25, and has a recess 4 of stepped width extending from the ledge 25 across the support which provides, between the level of the ledge 25 and the lower end of the top moulding 2, a gap, im which one end of an elongated ejector slide or pawl 5 is movable in its longitudinal direction. Near its other end the slide 5 is guided by a spigot 6 of the main sup port 1, which co-operates with the sides of a slot 7 in the slide, and by a normal-diameter magazine spindle 8 of a record-changer Gramaphone, which fits into a suitable bore 9 of the top moulding 2, and which co-operates with the sides of a greater-width portion 10 of the slot 7. A coil spring 11 is located over a further boss 12 of the support 1 and has one of its legs supported against one of the spigots 3 while its other leg, by acting upon a stop portion 13 provided on the slide 5, normally holds the slid-e in the illustrated retracted position, in which the stop portion 13 rests against the spindle 8. It will be observed that, when the slide 5 is in this retracted position, its ends are flush with the circumference of the magazine member 2 of the adaptor, and since the guide portion 1 is offset relative to the magazine portion 2 in the direction of the slide movement so as to form, at one side, the said ledge 25, this ledge will support, when the slide 5 is in its retracted position, the lowermost record of a pile of records whose hole is placed over the magazine portion of the top moulding 2. The shape of the recess 4 is such that the slide 5 can be moved from the illustrated retracted position to a position in which its two ends are aligned with the circumference of the guide portion 1 of the support. After completion of this movement a record which has been resting on the ledge 25, will be free to drop down the guide portion 1 of the support, whereafter the next following record of the pile will be supported by the portion of the slide 5 which then projects beyond the corresponding edge of the magazine-forming top moulding 2. The leading end 5a of the slide 5 is tapered to the minimum thickness of the records for which the adaptor is intended,

while the total thickness of the slide will approximately correspond to the thickest record expected, thus ensuring that in the case of thin records only one record will be displaced for release while ensuring adequate spacing between the ledge 25 of the support 1 and the top moulding 2 to permit passage even of the thickest records expected.

In order to ensure reliable operation, it is desirable to prevent, during the dropping of the lowermost record and until the ejector slide 5 has returned to its normal, fullyretracted position, the remaining records from moving down the magazine portion towards the position previously occupied by the lowermost record. This is achieved by a so-called separator blade 14, which is arranged immediately above the ejector slide 5, being guided between guide lugs 23 of the ejector slide 5, and which has a longitudinal slot 16 embracing the spigot 6 similarly to the slot 7 of the ejector slide 5. The desired movement of the separator blade 14 is achieved by means of a lever 17, which is pivoted on the spigot 6, and which is coupled to the slide 5 by a spigot 18 of the slide 5 at one side of the plane containing the axes of the spigot 6 and of the spindle 8, and at the other side of this plane to the separator 14 by a pin 19 riveted to the separator blade 14. The pin 19 engages a transverse slot 20 of the lever 17 and is normally held at one end of that slot by one arm of a coil spring 21, whose other arm engages a bore 22 in the lever 17. Since the pin 19 is arranged at the opposite side to the spigot 18 in relation to the plane containing the axes of the spigot 6 and of the record-changer spindle 8, the lever 17 will cause the separator 14 to move in the opposite direction to the slide 5 and thus to penetrate between the bottom record and the next-following record of the pile when the slide 5 is moved to bring the bottom record into alignment with the guide portion of the support 1 in order to drop that record on to the turntable. The spring 21 serves to prevent damage if the end of the separator blade 14 should for any reason enter the hole of the next following record, thus being prevented from being moved by the lever 17.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention the greater part of the length of the top moulding 2 has, as shown at 15, a cross-sectional area smaller than that of the guide portion 1 of the support in that it has a common cont-our with the guide portion in the left-hand half of FIGURE 1, while in the right-hand half of that figure it is limited by a circular arc of the diameter of the guide portion of the support 1 but displaced to the left relative to the edge of that guide portion. In order to ensure nevertheless the requisite positioning of the bottom record onto the shelf 25, the top moulding 2 is formed, near its lower end, with a sloped ramp portion 22 projecting beyond the profile of the guide portion 1 at the left-hand side of FIGURE 1 by the same amount by which the right-hand profiles of the top moulding 2 and of the top portion 24 of the support 1 are set back from the circumference of the guide portion of the support 1 to form the ledge 25.

What I claim is:

1. An adaptor having socket means for attachment on the magazine spindle of a Gramophone record changer of the kind having a Gramophone turntable, a stationary magazine spindle projecting, substantially vertically, from the axis of the Gramophone turntable, the spindle having a lower guide spindle portion and an upper magazine spindle portion, each said portion being adapted to fit into the centre bore of a standard record disc, and the spindle being equipped with retaining and ejector means by which a pile of standard-hole record discs may be retained on the said magazine spindle portion and released one by one to slide down the spindle guide portion onto the said turntable, the adaptor comprising a lower adaptor guide portion coaxial with said guide portion of the magazine spindle and an upper adaptor magazine portion which, at least at is lowermost point, which is approximately one record thickness above the upper end of the adaptor guide portion, is laterally offset from said adaptor guide portion so as to expose at the upper end of the adaptor guide portion a shelf adapted to retain the bottom record of a pile of records having a large centre hole, a substantially plane ejector slide and a substantially plane separator blade, both disposed horizontally with the separator blade resting on the upper surface of the ejector slide and both said slide and blade arranged for horizontal sliding movement between the adaptor guide portion and said offset part of the magazine portion of the adaptor, the slide being movable by the ejector means of the magazine spindle from a retracted position wholly within the circumference of said magazine adaptor portion to a position in which the slide forces a large hole record resting on the shelf to become aligned with the guide portion of the adaptor, thus releasing that record to drop down the adaptor guide portion, spring means between the adaptor and slide for retracting said slide, and the separator blade being bidirectionally movable, along a line parallel to that of the movement of said slide, between a retracted position in which the blade permits free movement of the bottom record of the pile of records stored on the magazine portion of the adaptor to move down to the shelf, and an operative position in which the separator blade projects from the circumference of said offset magazine adaptor portion, at the side remote from said shelf, between such bottom record of the next-following record of a pile, and coupling means including a lever pivoted intermediate its ends about a vertical pin, said pin having its axis fixed relative to the body of the adaptor extending through aligned slots in the blade and slide said lever being arranged above the separator blade and being pivotally coupled to the ejector slide at one side of the plane containing the spindle pin and the said vertical axis, by a coupling element connected to the slide and extending past the ejector blade beyond, and clear of, the lateral edge of said blade, said lever being coupled to the separator blade at the other side of that plane by a pin and slot connection so that movement of the slide to eject the bottom record from the adaptor magazine portion produces movement of the separator blade in the opposite direction, causing said blade to penetrate between such bottom record and the next-following record of a pile,

2. An adaptor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the slots in the ejector slide and the separator blade extend in the line of the respective sliding movement of said slide and blade, the pin of the adaptor passes through both said slots throughout the movement of said slide and said blade, and wherein said slide has a portion extending laterally beyond the separator blade throughout the op erative movements of said slide and blade, said coupling element being a pin extending between said laterally extending portion of the slide and the adjacent end portion of the coupling lever.

3. An adaptor as claimed in claim' 2, wherein the slide is formed with lateral lugs for guiding separator blade.

4. An adaptor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coupling means include a pre-loaded resilient element limiting the force applied to the separator blade.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,666,647 1/ 1954 Dale. 2,666,648 1/1954 Dale. 2,858,134 10/1958 Maris. 3,073,603 1/1963 Hansen. 3,191,943 1/1965 Reed.

HARRY N. HAROIAN, Primary Examiner. 

